Western medical treatment of peptic ulcer

  Peptic ulcers generally refer to gastric ulcers and duodenal ulcers. They are more common in men, duodenal ulcers in young adults, and gastric ulcers in middle-aged and older adults. The onset is associated with many factors such as Helicobacter pylori (HP) infection, use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS) such as aspirin, smoking, psychological stress, diet (high salt, strong tea, coffee), and viruses.  The clinical manifestations are mostly vague, dull or hunger pains or burning pains in the mid-, left- or right-sided epigastric region. The pain is cyclic, occurring in all seasons, but is more common in late fall and early spring. Duodenal ulcers tend to be painful before or between meals, relieved by food and antacids, and with nocturnal pain. Gastric ulcers tend to have pain one hour after a meal, relieved after two hours, and rarely at night. In addition both will have non-specific manifestations such as acid reflux, belching, heartburn, epigastric fullness, and loss of appetite.  General treatment: Regular life and diet, avoid excessive fatigue and mental tension, avoid spicy and salty food, strong tea and coffee as much as possible. Try to quit smoking. Stop using NSAIDS drugs.  Drug treatment: 1. HP infection detected to eradicate HP: standard triple therapy – standard dose PPI (proton pump inhibitor) + clarithromycin + amoxicillin (or metronidazole). Standard quadruple therapy – standard dose PPI + bismuth (bismuth potassium citrate) + tetracycline + metronidazole (can also be replaced with furazolidone and levofloxacin). The duration of treatment is at least 7, 10 and 14 days. If symptoms resolve after HP eradication treatment, antacid therapy may be withheld; if symptoms do not resolve, antacid therapy should be continued for 2-4 weeks (duodenal ulcer) or 4-6 weeks (gastric ulcer). Review of eradication effect should be done after at least 4 weeks of eradication treatment.  2. Antacid therapy: two classes of drugs, H2 receptor blockers and proton pump inhibitors (PPI). For the course of treatment, 4 weeks for duodenal ulcer when taking PPI and 6 weeks for H2 receptor blockers. Gastric ulcer are 8 weeks.  3. Gastric mucosa-protective therapy: aluminum thioglycollate, colloidal bismuth citrate (CBS), misoprostol.  For some other causes of ulcers also need to be treated for the cause, for example, NSAIDS should be discontinued for NSAIDS-related ulcers, or PPI should be added if it cannot be discontinued. the maintenance treatment should be considered based on the frequency of recurrence, the patient’s age, whether or not to take NSAIDS, smoking, and other comorbidities.  Patients who present with massive bleeding for which medical treatment is ineffective, acute perforation, pyloric obstruction, or ulcer malignancy will require surgical treatment. The most critical problem for many of the patients I come in contact with is the problem of self-interruption of medication. Often, they stop taking the medication when the symptoms are relieved at the beginning, resulting in recurrent disease, repeated treatment, and increasingly poor treatment efficacy. A regimen of treatment and continuous medication is crucial to treatment, otherwise relapse or treatment failure is very likely. Therefore, patients are advised not to stop or change their medication at will.